A Cathedral's Rebirth
by Maeve.Pendergast
Summary: Devastation struck Notre-Dame de Paris as it was engulfed in flames. The Doctor desperately wishes to help but she must learn an important lesson.


"Doctor?! Where are we going?" Graham cried as the TARDIS bucked and tossed. The Doctor had a hand firmly clasped on the console, looking steady for the situation. Her face was pressed into a determined grimace as the instruments in the ship chirped.

"There's something I need to see." she shouted, "something we have to do."

The ship continued to groan and shake but it was clearly fighting a losing battle. With a loud shudder, the TARDIS landed and went still. The Doctor ran to the doors and darted out of them. Her three companions dashed out after her and immediately were hit with an oppressive wave of heat. The air was heavy with smoke and heat, sucking life out of all within it. A few steps ahead, the Doctor stood perfectly still, staring up. They followed her eyes and saw the great bell towers of Notre-Dame de Paris engulfed in flames. The roar of sirens and flames and water surrounded them, it overwhelmed them.

With a horrible groaning, the spire perched on the back of the church tipped to the side before crumbling into the ruins below. Graham felt tears rolling down his face, whether from the smoke or the sight it didn't matter. Yaz stepped forward to where the Doctor remained motionless. The woman's face was pure, unsuppressed agony.

"No, no, no, no, no…" the woman whispered. Her voice grew louder until she was shouting "No, no, no, no!"

"Doctor, it'll be okay. It's okay." Yaz tried to calm the woman despite knowing deep in her heart that nothing would be okay. The other woman began to shake and without thinking, Yaz pulled her into a hug, turning the woman's face away from the ruins. They stayed that way for a moment before the Doctor pulled away and stalked back to the TARDIS. As the door slammed shut behind her, the familiar wheezing began.

"Graham! Ryan! The TARDIS!" Yaz cried running towards it. The two men turned their faces from the carnage before them at her call. They too began running towards the rapidly whirring TARDIS, reaching the inside just before it dematerialized.

The Doctor was pacing angrily around the console, flipping switches and levers.

"Doctor? What are you doing?" Ryan asked, concerned. He received no response. The woman just kept moving. The TARDIS jolted, sending the three companions plummeting to the ground. The ship tossed and turned, sending them back and forth. It was fighting, hard.

"Come on, come on, COME ON!" The Doctor screamed at the console. "DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

Ryan and Graham exchanged terrified eye contact and desperately tried to hold onto anything that would keep them steady.

"What's happening?" Graham called to the only person remaining upright.

"The TARDIS won't let me land! No, no, no! Come on, you piece of rubbish! LET US GO!" She slammed her hands down on the console with excessive force. Yaz was hoping, praying, nothing would break.

"Doctor! Calm down!" Ryan called.

"No! No, I won't calm down! This worthless, useless, piece of-" She kicked the base of the console hard with her foot and Ryan winced.

The TARDIS chirped once and then went suddenly deathly quiet and still. It was hovering in space above Earth. Graham, Ryan, and Yaz cautiously pulled themselves up from the floor. They silently stepped towards the centre, weary of the rage built up around it. Hunched over the console, hands planted to keep herself upright, was the Doctor. Small tremors shuddered through her body and tiny sobs echoed in the chamber. Yaz reached out and placed a hand in the middle of the other woman's back, "Doctor?"

The woman only continued to sob. Ryan's heart broke with every second the Doctor continued to cry. Just as he stepped behind her, the woman wilted and sunk to the ground.

"Whoa!" Ryan reached out and snagged her under her arms, slowly lowering her to the ground. Yaz followed until three humans and one Time Lord were seated on the cold metal grate. Graham placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. Responding to the touch, the Doctor turned to look at him. Her face was distressed and weathered, looking distinctly like she had aged a thousand years in a single moment. A loose tear curled its way down her face and instinctually Graham reached out to wipe it away.

"She won't let me land. It's a fixed point in time." She finally whispered, defeated.

"What does that mean?" Yaz questioned.

There was a long pause before the Doctor responded, "It means Notre-Dame has to burn."

"It'll be okay, love. I'm sure they'll rebuild." Graham spoke softly, trying to bring some light into the oppressive darkness.

"But it won't be the same."

"See that's the thing, Doc. Buildings get destroyed all the time but they come back. They may not always come back as exactly the same thing but they still hold on to that piece of history. Notre-Dame's been destroyed before, back in the French Revolution, but it made it back didn't it? Someday it'll reopen just as beautiful as before and this day will become a passing memory, a brick in its history. And think of how amazing it will become! It's a chance for new technologies to be installed, new art, new passion, new life. So while it may be gone for now, it's not gone forever." He smiled, gently rubbing a thumb along the woman's cheek. The Doctor inhaled shakily and gave a tiny, wavering smile in response.

"Hey, maybe someday we can visit it in the future." Yaz commented.

"I could take you to the one on Pluto… that one's made out of ice." The Doctor replied quietly.

"There's a cathedral on Pluto? Get out!" Ryan gasped, causing the others to laugh lightly.

"Come on, love." Graham directed, standing up and pulling the Doctor up with him. "Let's go sit down someplace where my back won't ache and talk. Maybe we can convince Ryan to fetch you some biscuits."

Side by side, they walked further into the TARDIS.

Hundreds of kilometres below them, the smoke cleared and the new chapter of Notre-Dame began.


End file.
